Alien Invasion

I recently required a basically new Alien Invasion here in the B/S/T. I'm going to attempt to do a review on it compared to what guns I have shot. Right now I'm going to give you my first impressions. I have only shot about 4 pods through it. I will not use a scale of any sort. And most of this will be based on my personal preferences and my experiences with other markers. I will not focus on the basic features that everyone know's about. Instead I am going to try to focus on the details.

What I have shot and have experience with:Ego 11, G6R, FEP Quest, Victory V1, Geo 2, Dye Matrixs, and a number of older bob long Intimidators and Marq's.

First off what I like.I love the low profile of the feed neck the sits almost inside the marker. It looks great with my Virtue Spire.I love the price. For 600 it is one of the best deals in paintball right now. (More about this later.)I really like the rugger grip on the volumizer. It doesn't spin on the volumizer it feels good in the hands. I am about 6'3" and the marker has a bit longer grip. I can fit three fingers in between the trigger guard and the high pressure regulator. The grips look good and fill good. They aren't tacky but I don't mind that at all. In fact I prefer a harder grip. They last longer and are easier to clean. The palm swell on the back of the frame fits my hand better than most guns. This is one of the few guns that I have noticed has a palm swell. I like the fact that is hoseless and plenty of room between the trigger frame and volumizer. The gun shoots very smooth for a stacked tube pocket. Almost as smooth as a g6r not quite. But much much smoother than any ego I've ever shot. I would go so far as to say it's smoother than a geo. I think the gun looks pretty good considering how little milling is done on it. It now comes with a Virtue board which is nice. It's led not oled but still virtue none the less.I don't have a gat wrap but will be ordering from Jack. And I plan on liking that over a case. Jack Rice says not to maintain the gun but about once a season. I really like that I don't have to mess with it all the time.You can disassemble the gun and fire it with hose going from the rammer to the body. This is extremely helpful in finding leaks although I don't plan on having any. Great customer service. Alien is a very small company and will be very willing to help anybody out. Optional barrel backs sold. For $60 I believe. For $600 I don't think it should come with a barrel kit anyway.

What is neutral to me.It doesn't have an on/off but I almost prefer that. One less thing to remember.The gun is on the heavier side, but again this is just going to add to the smootheness of the gun. And I don't care about 6 extra ounces. I haven't weighed the gun but it is considerable heavier that a g6r.The gun doesn't have a pointy lpr which is nice for some people. I don't hold it that high up.

What I don't likeI do not like the trigger on the gun. I prefer more of a rake than a scythe. This is not a roller bearing trigger. It rotates on two set screws. One one each side of the body.Also there doesn't seem to be quite enough room for the trigger to move. It rubs on the frame just slightly. I have adjusted it and got it as perfectly centered as possible.The alien invasion only comes in 5 color schemes. This is very minor but still more options are always better.It doesn't come with a manual. You have to go to the website to download the manual.It has very sharp corners on the body of the gun. Jack makes a point of not making the lpr pointy but with the lack of milling it has some quite sharp corners around the lpr.

I am not going to comment on the sweep bolt until my final review. Also I may change my opinion on some things. If anybody has any questions I will do my best to answer them. I'm not going to comment on efficiency because it doesn't matter. Go to youtube I'm sure you can find an efficiency test. I will post pictures so you can see what I'm talking about in my review. The gun shoots better than any ego in my opinion. It's smoother and feels better in the hands. However it's not going to be as reliable as an ego because the ego is dummy proof. The lpr does little to nothing on an ego. No offence to any PE owners out there. But they are engineered so that kids can own them. The Invasion I believe will prove to be very reliable but time will tell.

Nice to hear that it's a nice gun, if you could compare the feel of the gun to any other, what would you say it feels the most like?

Well it kind of feels like a 2k2 timmy. If you took the macroline off, put better grips on it and put a rubber grip on the front inline regulator. It has about the same distance between the reg and the trigger frame. And the palm swell is the same. However the trigger and trigger frame feels nothing the same. And the Invasion has more height to it.

Can you run these on HPA? Or do you need a lower tank output like the G6r?

Just a standard high pressure tank. The manual says that it can use either high pressure or low pressure output tanks. To my knowledge I haven't heard anybody say that they have problems using a SLP tank. That is talked about here. I didn't read the whole thread so don't hold me responsible for anything.

EDIT: I talked to Jack over on pbn and he said that the new invasions are coming with a new lpr spring that acts like the ego lpr spring. In other words you can't over or under pressurize the lpr to make it stop shooting or vent through the solenoid. I will be calling his shop tomorrow and getting one so that I can put out an accurate review.